


Your World Is Not All It Seems

by AceComets



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Divergent, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fandom Collision, Karamel Become Video Gamers, Mike Matthews Gets A Real Job, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, there is so much fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-05-25 12:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14976743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceComets/pseuds/AceComets
Summary: Expecting to be on Earth permanently now and with things in a bit of a lull, a chance encounter on the street inspires Mon-El to take a new job for his alter ego, Mike Matthews. At first, Kara is cautious about his idea to be a motion capture actor, whatever that means, but she finds herself just as invested in the games Mon-El gets to bring to life.Takes place between 2x18 "Ace Reporter" and 2x19 "Alex" with canon divergence from 2x18 onwards.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leavemeyourstardust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leavemeyourstardust/gifts), [DaxamPrincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaxamPrincess/gifts).



> My friends Megan and Opal were talking about how one of them had a dream that Chris Wood became a motion capture actor for a game and did a play through on Twitch with Melissa. So I took that, adapted it and thus, Mike Matthews is now a motion capture actor and in turn he gets Kara into video games.

As Kara pushed down the handle to her loft, she was already picturing in her mind her couch, her pj's, Mon-El and a musical. National City had been eerily quiet as of late, probably indicating that some big bad was about to happen but for the moment Kara was thankful for the reprieve of superheroing. Since getting fired from CatCo. she had been endlessly attempting to get her website to be taken seriously. 

James offered her a job back right away of course but Kara couldn't accept. It felt wrong, too much like nepotism and she knew Snapper would simply make her time at work miserable. The best option had been to put her chips into making Danvers.com a respectable news source. Since the debacle with Jack Spheer, it had seemed that her blog was being taken a little more serious.

Her current investigation was going nowhere and after an entire day of the hitting the pavement hard, she needed a nice, relaxing evening at home.

Opening the door to the loft however, Kara was caught off guard by Mon-El standing suddenly, a headset on and a controller in his hands.

"Hi babe." He said in that overly cheery tone with a matching grin.

"Hi." Kara said slowly, stepping in and putting her bag onto the counter, "What's this?" Her eyes flickered behind Mon-El to the television that had a pause screen up. There was a black, square box on the ground with cables running into the tv as well.

Glancing quickly over his shoulder to his new system, Mon-El turned back to Kara, a proud smile on his face, "It's my new career."

Kara's face pulled together, questioning how this was a career. "Was this Winn's idea?" She asked stepping from the doorway to the living room, "Because playing video games isn't really a career."

"No, no, here sit down." Mon-El said quickly, pulling the headset off as he took a seat on their couch as well. "First, hi." He leaned in, quickly pecking Kara's lips, "Second, how was your day?"

Pausing for a moment, still very curious as to how video games was a career, Kara let her eyes catch Mon-El's and for a moment, she softened. There was nothing about him asking her about her day that wasn't truly about his interest in it. As excited as he was about whatever this all was, he was just as excited to hear about her day.

"It was fine. Nothing new to report." Kara said with a shake of her head. All in all, it had been very quiet and boring. "Literally. I spent most of the day at the library and surprising there wasn't a single fire or bank robbery in the city. I think someone slipped that good citizen serum in the reservoir again."

Mon-El chuckled, dipping his head as the smile on his face grew. He had seen the struggle Kara was going through, the pain of losing her place at CatCo but also finding herself again. She didn't need the magazine to do what she did, she just needed faith in herself. While he was surprised Kara hadn't gone back, her dedication to doing what she loved and maintaining her superhero status had inspired him.

"But what about you hmm?" Kara asked, returning the smile as she glanced at the Playstation now set up and the stack of games. "You were busy today."

Laughing, a hand scratching the back of his neck nervously, Mon-El nodded for a moment. "Yeah, crazy thing. I was getting some ice cream and this guy came up to me and asked if I was a model."

Unable to help herself, Kara burst out laughing, shaking her head. "Mon-El, did you learn nothing from when we got sucked through that portal to Slavers' Moon?"

Laughing along with her, knowing the story was a bit too far-fetched, he nodded. "I did. I did. You have to let me finish." He waited for her nod to continue on, "Anyway I laughed at the guy, told him I was not into human trafficking and that I would be telling my friend Supergirl about him. That terrified the guy actually but happy ending, he's not a human traffic guy and just a video game developer guy."

"So he gave you this Playstation and told you to be a professional gamer?" Kara asked, still confused by where Mon-El's story was going. He laughed again, shaking his head as the excitement started to build in him.

Since his parents had left, he had been struggling a little bit more to find solid ground on Earth. Being a bartender was an okay job for now but it didn't contribute, not the way Kara did. His superhero training was coming along and even J'onn had to admit he seemed to have his head more in the game. If he was truly going to make a go at this world, he needed a foundation in both his life as Mon-El and the part of him that was now Mike Matthews.

"I ended up talking with him for awhile and he has this new game that his company is going to be making and he wants me to do motion capture acting for it!"

Kara could tell by the way that Mon-El spoke he was excited about this but she was still so lost. Her face twisted, eyebrows coming together and her mouth open slightly, shaking her head. "No idea what that is."

"It's like acting for video games. But the character will look and sound like me and I do all my own stunts and stuff. It's like really realistic video games." Mon-El explained further. "Here, look." 

Picking up the controller, Mon-El unpaused the game and took control of his guy, having him run forward. "This is Mass Effect Andromeda. It's actually funny how close humans got to creating other alien species. Anyway, see how the guy is running? Well they have somewhere wear a real cool suit, capture that and then it goes into the video game. This one is kind of a band example cause they run funny and stuff but there are others that are awesome and the guy wants me to be one of his main characters."

Again, Kara was silent for a moment as she tried to follow. All she truly wanted was for Mon-El to be as happy as she felt lately. Going through her own work woes, she didn't want to see him become stuck as a bartender anymore than he perhaps wanted to be. It was a good job for him, to get him used to Earth and interactions. Kara had learned from earlier mishaps that forcing Mon-El to be what she wanted didn't work out. So while she wasn't following how this was a job or career, Mon-El's enthusiasm was unmatched.

A little sigh escaped from Kara as she leaned forward off the couch, picking up the case for some game called Uncharted and looked it over. "So this is really what you want to do?"

Mon-El nodded again, smiling at Kara. "Yeah, yeah. I mean Josh, the video game guy, showed me their studio, how it works. It's really cool." He paused for a moment, his eyes trailing off and his bottom lip getting pulled between his teeth. "On Daxam, this would never happen. I get to do all my own stunts and he gave me the script for the game and it's so cool."

Putting the game down, Kara's grin grew as she listened to Mon-El speak. It clearly made him happy at the thought of doing this. "It could be pretty genius." She said, "I mean having a famous alter ego. No one will suspect you of being a superhero."

"Yes, yes." Mon-El said, nodding along as he realized that Kara was on board with his plan and idea. "I mean I don't know how famous these guys are but I'll totally be the hero of a video game."

Reaching over, Kara placed her hand on Mon-El's cheek, stroking softly as his happiness infected her. "If this is what you want to do, then I'm on board. Be a...motion capture actor guy."

Surging with joy, Mon-El leaned forward and captured Kara's lips with his, a tender passionate kiss as a thanks. Pulling back, he peppered her lips with little kisses. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Giggling, Kara returned each of the kisses until loud sounds from the tv pulled them apart. Mon-El had neglected to pause the game and it appeared his character had died.

"You better get better if you're going to be a big shot in the video game world." Kara said playfully as she stood from the couch. "Do you know what game it is or when it's coming out or anything?"

"Yeah." Mon-El answered, hitting pause again and picking up the thick white book Kara had missed seeing. "It's this cool, futuristic sort of game. It's called Detroit: Become Human and he wants me to be this android named Connor."

Taking the book from Mon-El, Kara glanced down at the script and then back to him. The smile on his face only seemed to grow the more he talked about this.

"Well you'll certainly be the cutest android there is."


	2. Chapter 2

In typical National City fashion, there was always one crisis or another that had made it difficult for Mon-El to actually have the time to get down to the studio and film his part for the game. The excitement for his new career path hadn't disappeared, nor had his desire to become a superhero like Kara. It was difficult to balance the two at first, even with an understanding studios whose own headquarters seemed to be getting destroyed every other week. Thankfully, Kara had been there every step of the way, helping and teaching him just how to make the balance work. 

In a rare period of peace in the city, with no big bad threatening, it was finally time for things to move forward. Mon-El had done everything he could to prepare, taking a few acting classes despite being told repeatedly that he was a natural. By this point, Mon-El had memorized every single one of his lines, knew how to react to what and exactly what he wanted to portray for Connor. The character just resonated with him and his struggle was something he could understand.

Arriving at the newly rebuilt studio for the first time, Mon-El wandered inside, eyes wide in awe and excitement. There was a young woman working at the front desk, smiling at him as he approached.

"Hello." He said with a nod, "I'm Mon-, Mike. Mike Matthews." He stumbled over his introduction, still adjusting to addressing himself with his human identity. It was such a rare occasion that he even used Mike these days. "I am here to be Connor in Josh's game." 

The girl laughed and picked up the phone, calling someone and letting them know Mike was here as he leaned against the front desk. Looking around at the building, Mon-El took a moment for himself. The last few months had been this constant push and pull for him. Learning to be a hero, to be a boyfriend and to be a good man was a lot for anyone to balance on one plate. It was little moments like these though, waiting in a fancy building to start a new job, that Mon-El realized how immensely fortunate he was that not only a pod had found its' way to him on Daxam but that he had managed to break free of the Phantom Zone to land on Earth.

The things he was able to do here were things that wouldn't have never been possible on Daxam. He hadn't even realized how awful life as the prince had been. He never went for want, every desire he wished to indulge at his fingertips but he was a mindless drone for an empire that did nothing for their people. Here, he could do so much and in so many different ways. Kara's training, her patience with his overeager behavior as well, had transformed him into a more disciplined fighter. Mon-El knew that he was no match for Kara and had regulated himself to a sidekick before she made it clear that he was an equal partner. He looked out for her in the field, anticipated moves and knew strategy much better than her. It was an absolute partnership that transcending the usual roles of superheroes.

Footsteps came from behind the desk and soon Josh was there, grin on his face and hand extended out to Mon-El. "Ah Mike! Great to see you. Glad we could finally get you in here."

Shaking Josh's hand, Mon-El nodded in agreement. "Yeah, yeah. Seems every single time we tried, National City was under attack."

"Isn't that the truth?" Josh laughed and nodded his head, starting to walk towards the main rooms and studios. "We've finally decided to build with some of that reinforced steel L Corp created. Hopefully next time war breaks out, Quantic Dream can stay standing. Did you know we actually had Valor fly through our building when those Cadmus guys attacked?"

Mon-El nodded his head, his eyes going wide as he tried to fight back a smile. He had to disagree with Valor flying through the building however as he remembered getting thrown rather violently through it and being unable to stand with a pain in his back for a few days. Still following Josh, Mon-El listened as he explained the process they'd be going through for filming his parents, stopping the tour at a small room.

"And here is where we'll get you suited up." Josh said, patting Mon-El's shoulder.

"I love getting suited up." Mon-El responded, a dumb grin on his face as he stepped into the room. There was a young woman there waiting on him.

"Hi I'm Kimi." She said shaking his hand, "After you get your suit on, I'll be applying the motion capture markers for your face."

"Those are the ones that capture like all my facial expressions and stuff right?" Mon-El asked after returning the handshake.

"Yeah," Kimi said with a laugh, "They are the active markers so when we film they do just what it sounds like. You've never done this before have you?"

"That obvious?"

Kimi was silent but gave Mon-El a smile before she excused herself to let him get changed. The suit was tight but oddly breathable and comfortable. His special Valor suit that Winn had finally made for him at least prepared him for how tight this suit would be. It was plain back, the dots spaced out fairly in order to capture his movements. Not as flashy as his red and blue suit but it was easily his second favorite one he ever had the change to wear.

Stepping out once he was changed, Kimi caught Mon-El's elbow and brought him over to another area, having him take a seat.

"So 83 markers. It'll take me maybe 30 minutes and then Josh wants you in the main capture room." Kimi explained as she lifted a tray and one of the dots.

Waves of nervousness shot through Mon-El as this all slowly became real. From the second Josh approached him, part of Mon-El had remained reserved, fearing that something would fall through and the first human thing he felt a real draw too would simply not work out. Now, he seemed just moments away from the second act of his own, new Earth life.

"Hey, we're just gonna start small today." Josh said coming over, "Some easy scenes, get the ball rolling and all that. You got any questions man?"

"No, I'm so ready to go." He said with a smile and nod to Josh as the first of the dots landed on his face.

**|| YWINWIS ||**

"Yes, I promise there will be a draft on your desk first thing in the morning. Yes. Yes sir. Okay. Yes. Bye." Kara said hurriedly into her phone as she walked down the street towards the address Mon-El had given her. With the suspicious lack of alien invasions and metahuman attacks, Snapper had been on all his reporters to get him good material to ensure a full issue. Naturally, Snapper had rejected eight of her ideas out of hand until he agreed to let her pursue a story about the video game development company right here in National City. In truth, Kara had pitched it when she was drained of ideas and things to write about, only knowing it thanks to Mon-El. It paid off though as Snapper was unusually less aggressive with her.

Finding the building she had been directed too, Winn stood outside, clearly waiting on her as he held up his hands as she approached him. "I was beginning to think you bailed on me."

"I didn't." She said, stuffing her phone back into her back and letting out a sigh. "I was just running late."

"You know you can fly right?" Winn asked, dropping his voice and looking around to make sure no one had heard him.

Rolling her eyes, Kara began walking towards the door. "Can't really fly and talk on the phone." She raised her eyebrows as she looked at him to drive home her point as well as end any discussion of her special abilities.

Approaching the front desk, Kara smiled kindly to the girl working. "Hi, Kara Danvers with CatCo. I have some interviews set up with your creative team."

"And Winn Schott Jr." Winn piped up from behind Kara, "I'm, uh, here to see Mike Matthews."

"Of course, just one moment please." The girl said as she picked up the phone. She informed the person who picked up of the two and their presence and as she hung up, told them someone would be out right away.

It took a few minutes, Kara and Winn talking quietly among themselves before Josh appeared.

"Hi, sorry about the wait." Josh said as he shook both their hands in quick greetings. "It's a pretty big day of filming things so you've picked a great day to be here. Which one is Mike's friend and which one is the reporter?"

"That's me, I'm the friend." Winn said, holding his hand up and smiling.

"Which makes me the reporter." Kara said, looking at Winn before turning to Josh, fixing her glasses. A queasy, unpleasant feeling settled in her stomach at being addressed as the reporter and not Mike's girlfriend. Although she didn't fully get what Mon-El was doing, the passion and excitement he had for it was clear and she had thought she was being supportive. Perhaps he hadn't been talking about her among his new work friends. "And Mike's girlfriend." Kara added on quickly, unable to stop herself.

Josh's eyes went wide in surprise for a fraction of a second before he let out a laugh, "Oh wow, I had no idea why I didn't put the reporter Kara and Mike's reporter girlfriend Kara together. He didn't even tell us that the reporter coming was his girlfriend."

Relief flooded Kara as her moment of craziness had simply been craziness. That was a much more Mon-El thing to do, allow Kara to have her moment in the sun as journalist rather than just as his girlfriend.

"Talks about you all the time." Josh said as they began walking towards the filming studio. "I'm so excited that you want to interview us for CatCo. The more buzz we get about the game, the better. It's a great project though. Incredible story."

"It's great for National City too." Kara said with a nod, "CatCo wants to highlight homegrown businesses and industries and I recently learned that video games are a fast growing creative industry." She looked towards Winn with a smile, silently thanking him for the immense data dump of video game information he had given her last night when they made these plans.

"Just in here." Josh said, lowering his voice, "We're shooting right now so please be quiet."

Stepping inside, Kara did her best to hug the wall and not distract Mon-El. He looked a little strange in what Kara could only call a wet suit and with the dots all over his face. She had seemingly slipped in unnoticed as Mon-El was sitting down and didn't seem to notice her.

I like dogs." Mon-El said, with just the slightest nod of his head to his partner. "What's your dogs name?" Despite there being a room full of people, Kara maintained her focus on Mon-El, noticing the way he held himself to composed but allowed the most subtle nuances to slip through.

"Did you see the game?" Mon-El asked his partner, his tone so neutral and face straight.

"That's what I was watching at the bar last night."

"Oh..." Mon-El's face shifted so easily, the tone of his voice falling so easily. He truly was a natural at this and Kara briefly wondered if perhaps playing someone else his whole life had made it simple for Mon-El to fall into acting. She hadn't had much free time herself to follow along with Mon-El's new project, well new career as she realized that's what it was. She knew the basics of the story, that he'd portray an android who would help a human police officer and that the whole game would tie together in the end. Actually getting to watch it unfold, to see the simple but complex way Mon-El had shifted from himself to this Connor was amazing.

"And cut." Came a voice from somewhere in the room, a male stepping forward into the space where Mon-El had been filming. "Nice! We'll take a break, come back and reset for the rest of the dialogue. Killing it guys."

As people began to scatter, Winn pushed off the wall before Kara, reaching Mon-El and flinging his arms around him. "Dude you are killing it." He said enthusiastically.

Giving Winn a squeeze and lift in return for the hug, Mon-El laughed. "I didn't see you guys sneak it."

"That was the point." Kara said with her own smile as she warmly accepted the kiss Mon-El offered her and then laughed at the ticklish brush from all the dots on his face.

"This game is going to be so cool." Winn said, his eyes wide in wonder as he glanced around the set. "And the fact you are in it is crazy."

"Tell me about it." He said, his hands on his hips as he followed Winn's eyes. "We've been at this like three weeks and it still doesn't feel real."

"Are you having fun?" Kara asked, already knowing the answer from the way his eyes were shining with light and joy.

"So much. It's crazy this is a job." He replied.

"It's crazy he's got no acting experience." Came a voice as a man came to where Mon-El, Kara and Winn were standing.

"This is David." Mon-El said as he greeted both Kara and Winn, "The genius director and writer that is making all this happen."

"I am so excited to play this." Winn said with a giddy laugh.

"Well that's good to hear. We've been trying to get this made forever. Finally got the right cast together to see it through. He's a special one, this one." David said, giving Mon-El an approving look. "Josh brought Mike in and I gotta say, he's been our Connor since then."

"Yeah, he is pretty special." Kara said, a proud grin on her lips as she caught Mon-El's eye, making him dip his head to hid the red blush on his cheeks.

"You're the beautiful, journalist girlfriend then." David said, catching the look between the two of them. "Does having him on payroll help you right a nice article about us?"

Kara chuckled and adjusted her glasses, "It helps." She gave Mon-El a little wink and smile.

"Alright lovebirds." Winn said with an eye roll, "Settle down."

"So Ms. Danvers, let me introduce you to some people so that one can get focused and ready to go." David said, stepping to the side and waving Kara over to him.

"Sure, just one second." She replied. Turning back to Mon-El, she put her hand on his shoulder, the proud smile settling onto her lips again as she struggled to find the words. Seeing him in his element, so natural and happy and full of talent, she had felt in her soul that he had managed to find the human part of him finally. It was all she had wanted and there had been fear and reservation when he had brought this up but it was so clear that Mon-El had been destined to find his way to something like this.

"You're doing amazing and I love you." Kara settled on saying, unsure of how to convey all of that. However, from the look in her eye, from the way Mon-El was so connected to her, he knew all the things in between she was saying."

"I love you too." He said with a nod, pressing in for another sweet kiss before she had to hurry away. Watching as Kara walked off with David, already deep into conversation, Mon-El pulled his bottom lip in and exhaled out. Everything he had ever dreamed of since finding Earth was finally happening, not just for him, but for him and Kara.

 


End file.
